Can you bend it like Beckham? The start-up helping budding footballers secure scholarships to the American dream

Sam Reed started playing football at the age of five and, like many other little boys and girls, harbored dreams of making it to the top to become a footballing hero.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. But, when he was given the chance to play his favourite sport every day for four years for free with a soccer scholarship to an American university, he didn't have to be asked twice.

And that ultimately led to combining the US' growing love of football, with a business enterprise exporting British players to US colleges.

Superstar: David Beckham on his first official day of practice for Los Angeles football team Galaxy

Thanks in part to David Beckham, who has more than done his bit to raise the profile of his game across the pond, football is now the fastest growing sport in the US.

As a result, there has been an influx of Europeans and South
Americans gaining soccer scholarships - a trend Sam decided to try and monetise after graduating by setting up his own sports consultancy firm in the UK.

With no university debt to pay off - thanks to his scholarship - but low reserves in the bank, the 24-year-old was able to
launch Brit Soccer Recruit after coming across Lets Do Business, an affiliation of the government funded initiative Start-Up Loans.

After working
with his Start-Up Loan mentor to finalise a business plan, Sam secured £3,000, which was spent on creating a website and marketing material.

Sam is in touch with a network of
US college soccer coaches, who tend to look favourably on British
players, but are inundated with emails from those that want to join
their team.

Brit Soccer Recruit works just like a recruitment agency by allowing coaches to
log into a database of carefully vetted potential players.

He says: 'When I returned to the UK last year,
I realised that the consultancies that gave me the opportunity to
attain a scholarship were all based in London and the North.

'In addition, I had not received a
good service once I paid the consultancy fee - I wasn't given the
guidance and support that I wanted to make the process a smooth and
efficient one.

'Which is why I decided to set up my
own consultancy, that offers a personal service to those within the
South of the country, although I do work with players throughout the UK.'

Soccer mad: Sam Reed

Sam admits that although college teams in the US essentially throw money at their sports teams, there are limited opportunities in America for professional footballers after university.

He says: 'There's an
abundance of money in college sports but this cannot be said within
professional soccer. Compared to other countries where football is seen
as a religion, soccer is left in the shadows compared to baseball and
basketball in the States.

'That said, we've recently seen
professional development leagues being established, Major League Soccer is growing
each year through the likes of Beckham and other high profile players, and
their national team are now a force to be reckoned with.

'There's no
doubt that popularity, and money involved, will grow - they're simply
decades behind other countries where football is the national sport.'

He added:'Attending uni in America was at first a
tough thing to do. Moving 4,000 miles away from friends and family was a
shock to the system, but I soon overcame this and began to enjoy what
America could offer.

'From playing football everyday to their cheap
shopping, the life of a American uni student was unbelievable. The
people were great and the way of life compared to the UK was much more
laid back.'